Well hello and welcome to Binge Watch, the podcast where we take a look at the hottest new TV

and film releases on streaming television platforms. I'm Hannah Fernando, the group editor of Woman

and Woman at Home magazine. And I'm Ian McEwan, writer on TV and Satellite Week, TV Times,

What's on TV and What2Watch.com. And today we're looking at the new releases that will be available

on Friday the 28th of February 2025, including Kate Hudson. in the Netflix sports comedy Running

Point and Dave Gorman's new series of his stand-up show Modern Life is Goodish on You.

And we'll also be checking out the return of Paramount's Yellowstone spin-off, 1923, starring

Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, a new celebrity reality series, The Baldwin's, about actor

Alec Baldwin and his family on Discovery Plus. I should say chaotic family at this point.

But first in, what is in the news? Anna Maxwell Martin and Reese Ifans will star in a spin-off

from Apple TV Plus' For All Mankind exploring an alternate version of the space race. What

else is in the news, Hannah? Netflix drama The Whisper Man featuring Robert De Niro will centre

on a crime writer whose young son is abducted. You can't get De Niro off the telly these days.

He's everywhere. Well, three American series this week. and a homegrown offering as well,

which is what we're going to start with because on You and Dave, it arrived on Monday the 24th

of February, it's the return of Dave Gorman Modern Life is Goodish. And here's a clip.

Dave Gorman here. Welcome to my desktop, where I obsessively stan all the absurdities of modern

life. What is going on here? What is going on?

bizarre rules of the alphabet. It's weird that letters can be spelled out as words using letters.

Or how moving to the coast can make you immortal. Moving to Bournemouth gave me a hundred and

eighteen percent chance of survival. It's a never-ending rabbit hole of ridiculousness.

Well it's been seven years since we last saw Dave with this show on the telebox and um I've

got to say I'm a fan. for the uninitiated he uses, it's done recorded in front of a live

audience and he always wears a check shirt okay interesting fact but he does a PowerPoint presentation

and it's really him looking at the sort of quirks of modern life all really well-observed stuff

that is intriguing and funny and interesting so there's a little bit it's a bit TV burpish

one element of it so he has Brian Connolly he looks back at Brian Connolly and the way he

used to introduce celebrity guests so that the audience could kind of guess who was coming

on from what he said. That's really good. There's a quite he looks at the use of those you know

there's pods that are in public spaces that are kind of like meeting pods that you can

hire by the hour. He does a very funny sequence about that. He does these things called found

poems, which if you've seen him before, they're made up of comments that people have left under

articles on the internet and they're very amusing and he has a live string quartet providing

the music. So although ironically PowerPoint is a bit dated now, isn't it? It's still...

I mean Gorman has done lots of really interesting stuff over the years. So he did an experiment

where he tried to prove whether astrology really works by following his horoscope to the letter

every day. He's tried to locate lots of Dave Gormans all over the world. So yeah, I am a

Dave Gorman fan. He has a fascinating lens through which he views this

It's highly recommended. Welcome back, Dave. Uh, are you a fan, Hannah? Do you know what?

It's, it is quite funny, isn't it? But it's just really, really different. And you say

PowerPoint is a bit sort of dated, but I, I actually wasn't looking at the audience too

much, but perhaps, you know, it kind of appeals to the demographic, you know, that, that watch

him and that like him. And as you say, he's always wearing that check shirt. And he says

that if he wears a t-shirt, he kind of is almost like a disguise because no one recognizes him

in half of the audience or 60% of the audience turn up in check shirts too. So he's sort of.

become known as that. And it is just a kind of different take on the crazy world, the crazy

modern world that we live in. And I think it's highly relatable to a lot of people, which

is why it's so funny and it sort of strikes a chord. So yeah, I think it's a bit different,

it's a bit fun, and it's a formula that works. We're going to move across to Netflix for our

next offering. It arrived on Thursday, the 27th of Feb. It's a new 10-part sitcom called Running

Point. And here's a clip. You are the president of the waves. This show came. But on behalf

of all women, don't ever make a mistake. It looks bad for all of us.

Yeah, so this is the latest outing for Kate Hudson. And there's a bit of a sell-a-cast

actually because Justin Threw is also in this. And it struck a chord with me quite quickly

because although it's, you know, arguably a bit sort of... It doesn't push necessarily

many boundaries. I think its intention is right in that it addresses women in the workplace

and the fact that it's still relatively male dominated, particularly in some areas, sports

being one of them. Now it's called Running Point and she is appointed as the president of a

world famous basketball team. Now. nepotism plays a big part in here because it's a family

business. But she's massively ambitious and it sets the cat among the pigeons really, or

sends the hairs racing because essentially all her brothers are all jostling for position,

you know, she's a girl, why should she do it? You know, and you get this real kind of sense

of a woman in a male dominated workplace, which I think you know, without sounding too feministic

and kind of, you know, veering this down a different track. I think a lot of women do feel like

that in a lot of situations. And I suppose it shines a bit of a light on that because she's

ferociously ambitious. You know, she has talent in terms of, you know, what she's doing, her

knowledge, and kind of this really is testing her metal and seeing her sort of steely side.

And you also have this really nice dynamic with her best friend who's always there supporting

her, which, you know, again, We talk about female empowerment and kind of having friends that

kind of pick you up and carry you to the top rather than pushing each other down, which

is, you know, a real true sign of friendship. And it's a, as I say, it's not sort of breaking

any real barriers in terms of a storyline, but I think it does shine a bit of a light on women

in the workplace. And you know, she... It's nepotism, isn't it? She's Goldie Horne's daughter,

you know, she's been in a lot of things. But actually with this, I don't know, I think she

does it really well. And I also, I watched something else, aside from what I've watched of this,

I also watched kind of like some interviews with her and some of the cast and the directors

as well. And it's really interesting listening to them and everyone kind of raves about working

with Kate Hudson and kind of how fun she is. And you see some of the outtakes. and kind

of the, the laugh that they're having with each other. And I think they had a really good time

and actually that sort of, that kind of shines through. So it's looking at, you know, a serious

side of things. It's got a message. It doesn't really break any huge boundaries. Did I enjoy

it? Yes. What do you think Ian? I enjoyed it. And I first saw Kate Hudson in the brilliant

film, Almost Famous, which is about a rock and roll band on tour. And she played the groupie

Penny Lane. She was fantastic in that. And of course, as Goldie Horn's daughter, she should

have funny bones. And she does have funny bones. I think always with the new sitcom, you're

slightly worried when you start watching. Is it going to be funny? And very quickly, I bought

into this. She's got a real kind of presence. She's got great comedic timing. And I mean,

it is you're right, it's sort of a well worn plot line of fish out of water, taking over

a sports team. But it really works. It's got a really snappy script as well. It's quite

rude. I think it's quite in your face. And she, yeah, she's terrific in the lead role. So,

yeah, pleasantly surprised. I liked it. Over on Paramount Plus, arriving on Sunday the 23rd

of Feb, we have season two of The Western, 1923. And here's a clip. What's his name? Spencer

is a warrior, the stone killer. Today, we begin making Montana a playground for the elite.

I'll destroy everything that's in its way. I'm trying to prevent a war here. It ain't preventable.

He wants to take this place from us. So this is a spin-off. Yellowstone which was sort of

the modern-day Western which starred Kevin Costner as a Montana rancher called Jack Dutton and

anyway Costner parted ways with that series and his character was buried at the Yellowstone

ranch but it spawned a number of spin-offs one of which is 1923 which yes as the title suggests

is set in the past. And it stars, well, let's talk about star power. Harrison Ford, Helen

Mirren, they play Jacob and Cara Dutton, who are his ancestors. It's also got Timothy Dalton

in it. They certainly pack a lot in. I'll give you that. So in episode one, well, someone

gets attacked by a mountain lion. Someone else has a sex slave locked up in a cupboard. A

sailor gets raped on a ship. There's some bare knuckle boxing. I mean, it's all going on.

So it's kind of, it's a bit of a pot boiler in some ways, but come on with Ford and Mirren,

two veterans who are still just highly watchable. There's this great character in it called Spencer,

who is Jacob's nephew. He's played by Brandon Scleaner. He's got a terrific mustache, one

of the great mustaches on TV. So he's a big game hunter. And I mean, his backstory, I'm

not gonna ruin it. Go back and watch season one if you've not seen it, because you kind

of need to know what's going on, because he's been on quite the journey, but he's sort of

trying to get home to save the family ranch, and also somehow to be reunited with his bride,

Julia Schlepfer. Yeah, sometimes it slightly stretches credulacy, but it's got plenty going

for it. I mean, I grew up watching Westerns like the High Chaparral, so I love this kind

of stuff. What about you, Hannah, do you like this one? Do you know what, it's hard not to

like, isn't it? Like you say, because just because of the cast, but take them out of it. And in

all honesty, I don't think it's for me. I'm not a massive Western fan. I've watched a few,

but I don't absolutely love it. The- as I say, I think the names are what sort of, you know,

appeals to me. And I think the fact that they want to be a part of it means it has to be

good, right? That's just kind of how you feel about it. But to your point you made earlier,

it's just a bit too much. I think there's just too much ground covered. I'm not sure that

you need every single one of these massive storylines in many ways. It just feels a little bit overpacked,

a bit of a sensory overload in places. And so for me, yeah, I didn't love it as much as I

wanted to love it. As I say, you know, this is not a genre that I love in the same way

as you do. So I'm not expecting me to, you know, kind of, um, fangirl it as such, but I kind

of thought with them, I would, I would like it more than I did, but I felt there was a

bit of a sensory overload. Well, we're going to finish on Discovery Plus with a new reality

show that arrived on Monday, the 24th of February. It's called The Bald Winds. And here's a clip.

Seven children, six animals, two parents. A wild family. Why are we eating chocolate? Get

out your phone! Okay. Don't pee in that pool. Gross. What's the matter? Happy face. A son

lost his mom in the most unthinkable tragedy. This is never something to forget. And we're

trying to parent through it. Oh. Ian, where do I start with this one? Because this is just

the most tone deaf thing I think I've probably ever watched. It's come up, I mean, it's been

highly criticized, as you well know, generally, for the timing of this. So this was, this was

filmed two weeks ahead of the trial. So of course, Alec Baldwin

was being questioned and had been arrested. He was up for, I think, manslaughter. for the

shooting on set where he fired a gun that he didn't think was loaded. So this was done two

weeks prior to that. So the question I suppose is why did they do it? They don't need the

money. You'll clearly see that when you watch this, they live in an amazing New York apartment,

which is absolutely fabulous. And then they've got the Hamptons home. So this is not a financial

thing, but presumably as a reputational thing and trying to come over in a way that you kind

of restores. arguably a dented reputation. Now there's no, for me, there's no discussion over

the fact that it must have been absolutely harrowing for all of them, all concerned. But this just

felt very, very tone deaf to me because actually it's a reality show. It's a fly on the wall

documentary about a very chaotic family. They have seven children, eight pets. They do have

two nannies, although you only see a glimpse of one of them at one stage. And I think that's

because they're trying to corral not only the children, but the cats. and dogs into the car

and there was a main road and I think they were just trying to stop the children from running

into the road. But you know, that's the only time you saw that nanny. And it felt very shoehorned,

the whole shooting situation just felt shoehorned in and uncomfortable and this sort of moody

music comes on and suddenly it changes from hilarious. being all gushing about Alec and

him talking about their children mostly and their life, to suddenly talking about something

that's incredibly sensitive. You know, a woman's lost her life, a son has lost their mother,

a husband has lost his wife, etc. So for me, it just didn't hit right. Don't get me wrong,

as a reality show, it kept me watching. I was interested in their life apart from anything,

just wondering how an Earth... They, they cope, but I suppose they just have a load of help

is the reality of that. Although again, as I said, you don't see it that much, but I just

felt that it hit a really low point, if I'm honest with you, because there was one stage

where, I mean, Alec talks about having PTSD after it all, which he may well have done,

of course, and Hilaria saying, you know, I'm not saying we, you know, people should feel

sorry for us. you know, because obviously there's much worse and obviously, you know, someone's

lost their life, et cetera, et cetera. But it was a bit, why are you talking about it then?

Are you feeling you're having to talk about this right now and justify your position? And

they, you know, they talked about how the children were they having to say a special goodbye to

daddy before he went to the court hearing. You know, and They talked about the age, they talked

about that she's come under a lot of fire for her Spanish accent, you know, is she really

Spanish? Is she not? Why is it a weird accent? I thought that was a bit silly really. I mean,

she speaks quite competently in Spanish and clearly speaks to the children so that they're

bilingual. But, you know, it kept me watching Ian and I like reality shows, but for me, I

just thought this is not great timing, if I'm honest with you. And if you're going to do

something as serious as that, then at least... give it a little bit more airtime than perhaps

the maximum of five minutes it was given throughout this whole thing. I think it was about that

anyway. What did you think? Yeah, I agree with you. The timing is inappropriate and the discussion

of the shooting seems very kind of shoehorned in, which makes you wonder, as you say, what

was the agenda behind this series? I mean, I do like Alec Baldwin and there's certainly

a curiosity value there because, well, obviously he's a massive star, he's rich, there's a big

age gap between him and Hilaria who, you know, a lot of people are accused of being a gold

digger, didn't they? He's an older dad because the seven kids are pretty young, but it's relatively

thin, gruel really. I mean, episode one, the kids go for a haircut and then they... try

and get all the kids in the car to go for their holiday in the Hamptons. Very nice, nice work

if you can get it. Um, and you know, a lot is made of the fact he's got OCD. So having all

those kids and all those pets is difficult for him because he likes everything to be ordered,

but you know, they have got two nannies. Come on. So, yeah, I mean, I certainly didn't feel

the need to watch anymore and it just, there's something about it that just doesn't feel quite

right. to be fair. Now we've got to that time, Hannah, will we find out what you've been binge

watching this week? Well, you reminded me of this, the great pottery throwdown, which I

absolutely adore. So yeah, I got binge watching that. It's just so great. And I just love it

when he cries. It doesn't take much, does it? It's so funny. It makes me laugh when he cries.

Just think it's brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. And you know what? I'm in awe of those people

because... They're so artistic and brilliant and nothing really gets them down. They just

pick themselves up and go again. I can only imagine me doing it and the clay being on the

ceiling, you know, is great. It is one of my favorites. I watched one, one episode of a

three-part documentary series on the iPlayer called Israel and the Palestinians, the road

to the 7th of October, which does give you some interesting backgrounds to the Hamas attack

and then. the conflict in Gaza, learned a lot of stuff going back to kind of the days of

Sharon and the fact that there were kind of attempts to set up a two state situation that

just failed. So yeah, obviously that's so much in the news that it's quite interesting to

watch that and get a bit of the backstory. Now, before I talk about next week's offerings Hannah,

we should just flag up. I should have done this in the news really, shouldn't I? We were lucky

enough this week to have a chat with Kyren Thrax, the Drag Queen and winner of RuPaul's Drag

Race, who presents his own spin-off show, Hello, and is currently on tour. So, yes, watch this

space. That will be coming as a BingeWatch special episode very soon. Can I just say you want

to be listening to that current interview? I really enjoyed that. So much fun. Absolutely

brilliant. They are absolutely delightful and so grateful. Totally unentitled and just yeah,

absolutely love the interview. But going back to next week, we have got crime drama, Get

Milly Black, which lands on Channel 4 streaming. Yes, looking forward to that. And ITVX period

drama. Cruel Love tells the tragic story of Ruth Ellis who was the last woman to be executed

in the UK. So we look forward to those and much more. But in the meantime listeners, keep watching.